At 33 years of age, Lauren Martin, the current Deputy Dean at SACAP has become used to being viewed as young in certain workspaces. She says, “I hope to continue to challenge dated perceptions that young means ‘not qualified enough’, ‘not experienced enough’, ‘no value to add’, ‘no seat at the table yet’. I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by progressive leaders who have demonstrated that “making a difference and adding value had very little to do with age and that there should always be space at the table for a different voice or perspective.”
Lauren’s journey to taking her place on SACAP’s leadership team has been steadily built on a series of academic milestones. In 2009, she graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a BA in Psychology. The following year, she completed her Honours Psychology degree through UNISA with a Cum Laude award. In 2014, she graduated, again Cum Laude, with a Masters of Counselling Degree from the University of Pretoria. She graduates this year with her Ph.D. in Psychology from UNISA, specialising in learning and teaching practices. While her academic pathway has been deliberate, Lauren says she didn’t start out with any particular clarity on her career goals.
“After school, I had no idea what I wanted to study or what I wanted to be,” she says. “I ended up studying a general bachelor’s degree with psychology as a major, but I was not particularly interested in psychology as a career at that time. After my degree, I was still not certain of a career and so studying further seemed like a good idea. After my honours, I applied for a psychology Masters’ as this also seemed like a natural progression.
I only applied to one institution and I was invited for the Masters’ selection week, not knowing what it was about. I remember being so confused as to why others were nervous during this process. I had no idea how competitive the field was. In my final panel interview, I remember reflecting on stumbling into the field and into the masters’ process. I was, at that time, critical and not yet convinced of the role of psychologists in society or the role psychologists have in making a difference.”
This ambivalence towards psychology had deep roots. Lauren explains, “I grew up in a household where mental illness was not spoken of and that seeking help was not normal. In fact, there was very little awareness, education, or tolerance for illness. My late mom had depression and anxiety and my late dad struggled with alcoholism. I grew up experiencing that mental illness should be a private experience and was surrounded with a lot of shame. This moment of reflection during the Masters’ selection process turned out to be pivotal in my development and my route to working within psychology.”
Lauren was successful in her Masters’ selection process and describes entering into what was for her the most transformative learning experience where she changed from someone who believed in keeping challenges private to advocating for awareness, transparency, and humanity. She says, “I, now more than ever, believe that psychologists and psychology graduates have a fundamental role in society and for people.”
For seven years, Lauren worked in private practice as a Counselling Psychologist. During five of those, she also stepped into the education space as a lecturer and postgraduate support manager for the Tshwane University of Technology. Subsequently, marriage, becoming a mother of two small children, and caring for her parents brought her to choosing to focus on her career path in education. She joined SACAP’s Pretoria campus in 2017 as the Head of Teaching and Learning.
Lauren has held a number of SACAP positions before accepting the role of Head of Faculty for Applied Psychology in 2020 and then becoming Deputy Dean in 2022. SACAP’s mission to provide transformative educational experiences for its students in order to equip them to best serve South African society is in perfect alignment with Lauren’s lived experiences.
She says, “It was only during my Masters’ training that I truly realised that education should be more than just grades and performance; that education should change you as a person and through this change, you are better equipped as a professional. In fact, without education giving you a safe space to challenge our own worldview, upbringing, perspectives, assigned roles, and thinking, we graduate and go into various sectors where we perpetuate our own biases.
If we want graduates to be able to go out into the world and make a difference in society, in any sector, they need to be afforded the opportunity to critically engage with themselves in the learning journey. Looking back, I realise how much I missed out on in my learning journey, in my own personal and professional development, when I was solely academic and performance-driven. As the Deputy Dean, I hope that I help students to value and place importance on their personal and professional development alongside their academic performance.”
Experiencing personal growth and development through her education, Lauren believes has equipped her to wholeheartedly give of herself in important ways in her private life. When her mother was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer with a life expectancy of just over a year, Lauren moved in with her to care for her. She says, “My education particularly helped me to be present with her, love her in every stage of the dying process, and to really listen.
My mom lived for nearly five years after diagnosis. Above it all, I believe my studies made me a better-equipped person so that I could give and invest in areas of real importance in my life. This experience further connects me to humanity and the process most of us will experience at some point in caring for others.”
Another way her educational journey shaped her life experiences, was Lauren’s openness to becoming a surrogate. “Through my studies, I knew that I wanted to be able to give back to society,” she says, “I wanted to give for no return, and I wanted to add value in a meaningful way. In a private capacity, I chose to be a surrogate for another family. In South Africa, it is illegal to be paid for this and so becoming a surrogate is done from a place of having a heart for humanity.”
As a leader now in Social Sciences education, Lauren believes that it is important for young people to be able to explore study pathways that transform them positively in ways that go beyond becoming equipped for a career. She says, “I want to normalise not having a set plan or career path. It is okay to not be sure of what you want to study or what career you want to pursue.
My story started there too. Social Sciences is a great opportunity for you to explore different areas in a robust manner, often uncovering areas of interest. It is a good platform to start to discover who you are and how your uniqueness can add to the world in a meaningful way. Your studies and the learning process can be a transformative journey if you invest in the process. Postgraduate studies in Social Sciences then allows you to focus on particular areas of interest, where your strengths and abilities align, as you work towards a particular career focus.”
